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A 22-year-old man mimicked the actions of the gunmen behind the Bondi terror attack on the footbridge they shot from before unleashing an anti-Jewish rant on several bystanders and leaving frightened children in tears.
Zayne McMillan pretended to fire upon people from the Campbell Parade bridge on a busy Saturday evening in January, a court heard, as the man was sentenced to up to one year in prison.
John Maddison Tower Local Court was told the Indigenous man shouted: “I’m a Koori, this is my land, f— the Jews.” McMillan was breaching parole for multiple domestic violence offences at the time.
His lawyer, Stephen Alexander, accepted his client’s comments were antisemitic, deeply offensive and harmful, but said McMillan did not have antisemitic views and “did not set out” intending to target Jewish people. He said McMillan was influenced by a cocktail of drugs and alcohol and reported that he was first confronted by another man on the bridge while expressing his own political views.
Agreed facts tendered to court say that about 7pm on January 31, McMillan and another man were standing on the footbridge on which Naveed and Sajid Akram stood seven weeks earlier and allegedly opened fire on a crowd celebrating Hanukkah, killing 15 people. It was Australia’s deadliest terror attack.
There was a “moderate amount of pedestrian traffic in the area, as there typically is at that time during summer on a Saturday evening”, the facts state.
McMillan motioned with his hands as if holding a long-arm firearm, shouting, “F— the Jews. I’m a Koori, I can do what I like. I’m Aboriginal – this is my land.” His friend took photos as he did so.
About five metres away, a man was standing with his family, including two children, when he locked eyes with McMillan.
McMillan shouted, “What the f— are you looking at?” One of the children ran towards her father and started crying. The man was terrified for his family’s safety, the facts state.
Several other bystanders stepped in to tell the pair to leave, but McMillan responded with the same slur.
As McMillan threatened the man by standing close to his face, swearing at him and threatening to bash him, his terrified children clung to their father and pleaded: “Let’s go, Daddy – I don’t want to be here.”
The victim hailed down a marked police car as McMillan jumped over a wall on Campbell Parade and fled.
Minutes later, McMillan and his friend were riding e-bikes near Waverley Oval. Judge Michael Barko said the bikes were “stupidly” rented under their own names.
A man and his 11-year-old son walked past them, heading towards a synagogue. The facts state that “both were clearly Jewish” due to religious headwear.
The man heard McMillan continually shout “f—ing Jews”. McMillan then put his bike down and took his shirt off before getting back on his bike and riding around the oval, continuing his rant. The victim asked what he was “so angry about” and whether someone upset him, to which McMillan’s friend responded: “He’s just a dumb drunk c—.”
Police later arrested and charged McMillan. He was refused bail and had been in custody since.
McMillan pleaded guilty to three counts of behaving in an offensive manner in public and two counts of intimidation.
Alexander said McMillan’s version of events was that he called out “Free Palestine” while standing on the footbridge, when a man walking past in Jewish headwear said he didn’t know what he was talking about.
McMillan said he responded: “I do, mate – you’re stealing land and killing women and children just like the white man did to our people years ago”, and was told to “mind his own business” before he shouted the anti-Jewish slur.
“The defendant did not set out that evening with the intention of targeting Jewish people… it’s something that happened as he was there,” Alexander said.
However, the judge said there was “no other faith, culture or belief referred to” except Jewish people.
The court heard McMillan told police he was “off his chops”, affected by alcohol, ketamine, MDMA and magic mushrooms.
In arguing for a lesser sentence, Alexander said McMillan had shown remorse, suffered mental health conditions stemming from a traumatic childhood, and that the “relatively short offending” involved no physical contact.
However, Barko said the only appropriate sentence for “causing great offence and harm not just to the Jewish community but anyone in the Australian community” was full-time jail.
McMillan was sentenced to 12 months’ prison with a non-parole period of nine months. He will be eligible for parole in November.
Waverley Council has commissioned a detailed report to determine whether the Bondi footbridge should be removed or undergo restoration works.
The review follows a 2024 structural assessment which found the ageing structure had reached the end of its “useful life”.
A final decision on the bridge’s future and its potential as a permanent memorial will follow formal consultations with victims’ families and the NSW government.
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